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The Art of Storytelling
All stories are about change. Geometry and structure are the tools of good storytelling. Every time you have a character reacting or adapting to a situation, going through trials, and returning changed, you have a story. Stories are about transformation. They follow a rhythm: biological (life, death), psychological (conscious, unconscious), and societal (order, chaos). Joseph…
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Trading off the Challenging Pleasures of Art for the Easy Comforts of Entertainment
Has American culture become a vast infomercial? Memo to rest of the world: Don't copy. In a society dominated by celebrity, almost everything, even the news, has been reduced to entertainment, said Dana Gioia, (former) chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, during Stanford University's 116th Commencement in Stanford Stadium, June 2007#. I met…
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Mass MoCA does Wilco: How a Band Curated a Museum Experience
Shifting to the customer point of view is more than writing content that is benefit-driven. Although that helps. This past weekend, NPR had a story that got my juices going. You'll see in a minute why it matters to the conversation on value and execution. North Adams is quiet town in the Berkshire Mountains in…
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Women and the Art of Meaning
Women are a woman's best friend. Peruvian photographer Mario Testino immortalized the message in a series of portraits of young African, European and American women who are HIV positive and are fighting the virus and want to help communicate awareness. The cultural center at Cappella Orsini in Rome hosts the visuals that are part of…
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The Art and Science of Marketing
Peter Brook in Threads of Time says that experience cannot be divided into two opposing categories, into what can be felt and what can be defined. Behind taste, artistic judgment, and cultural habits exist proportions and relationships that touch us because a quality of emotion is integral to their nature. At the same time, lurking…